Act
IV - Scene II
Hypatia as Leda is Seduced by Jupiter Disguised as a Swan

THE
MYTH
On the banks of the river Burotas, Jupiter, disguised as a swan,
ravished beautiful Leda, wife of King Tyndareus. From that union
she laid an egg from which were hatched Helen, Castor, and Pollux.
Leda was consequently deified as the goddess Nemesis.

THE MATH
Hypatia (370-415)
Hypatia was head of the neoplatonist school of philosophy at
Alexandria, and one of the most learned and eloquent teachers
of antiquity. She wrote commentaries on Apollonius's Conics
and several other works in mathematics, all of them now vanished.
She was barbarously murdered by a mob of Christians who equated
science and learning with paganism. The murder of Hypatia led
many Greek scientists and mathematicians to leave Alexandria
for Persia and Arab countries, particularly Baghdad. They saved
many books from the library of Alexandria, such as Euclid's
Elements and Ptolemy's Almagest.